The Ozymandias Complex
by Reige
Summary: I wasn't going to lie down, watch, and let it all happen; I was going to rise before I fall. SI OC
1. Burn

**A/N: **I'm in the mood for Final Fantasy VII because I've been recently led there by my Youtube Channel. So, here's a story for you all because we all probably needed it. There's another one, _**Vendetta Fiasco**_, but it's actually being rewritten (again!) for the sake of a better story. The elements will remain the same, just a bit of character development, a few changes about the plot of his story, and it'll be posted. Now if I could only get to writing the other half so I could get started, but with work always taking over, I don't have the time. There's a lot of stories I want to continue doing but life likes to pull be back. Sorry and I hope you enjoy this story!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square Enix, my original character belongs to me!

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**The Ozymandias Complex**

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><p>It was a terrible sight to behold.<p>

Even as the sky was full of rain, the great fire still rose high and blackened the already dark sky. People were running, some screaming and sobbing as they watched helplessly from where they stood. However, there was only a few people left with their composure, no matter how badly shaken, and they held their wits together when they were being ordered by a traveler who had only recently began to stay in their small community.

"Take as many of the injured as you can, lead the others away from the fire, and find someone with a truck or wagon to carry enough water!"

Zangan turned away from the group as he looked back towards the burning pyre. An airship carrying military personel had fallen from the sky, and he could only guess that this was another tactic pulled by the people of Wutai to scare Shinra off with threats that they could be everywhere. Zangan sadly shook his head, the poor bastards being used as bloody messages to the damned company who began the messy and bloody business of war.

And he knew for a fact that Shinra wouldn't easily fall back just because a few airships full of young soldiers that had yet to face war were being blown out of the sky. In fact, they would just use this as a propaganda to enlist more eager young men in the name of avenging all those killed by the barbaric Wutainese.

Such was the nature of war.

"Oh, Gods," Zangan's ears perked when he heard a woman gasp from somewhere in front of him. "There's a child!"

He whipped his head towards the giant metal airship, and sure enough a small silhouette of a child was seen. Wasting no time to wonder why in the world there was kid on board and praying that he could just prevent one life from becoming nothing but ash, he leapt forward and dove inside the burning airship. Avoiding the wisps of fire, Zangan tore off his red cloak as he came closer to the tiny child.

"Little one!" he called out over the roar of the fire.

A little girl, he noted, turned her head towards his direction slowly and was met with wide, dazed, and confused blue eyes that shone brightly from the fire surrounding them. Her short blond hair was caked with blood, probably from a head injury when the airship had crashed, and the soot from the charred ash around them. Remaining eye contact and holding his breath to not look at the burnt bodies and intake the scent of burning flesh, Zangan came closer and crouched down when the space became a bit tight.

"Come here!" he ordered as he found that he could come no closer without the risk of getting burned himself. "I'm going to get you out, now please come over to me!"

With seemingly great effort, the little girl crawled on her hands and knees towards Zangan, coming closer with the old martial artist's encouragement. When she finally was within reach, he pulled her closer to shield the poor girl from the heat and fire. He nearly froze when he heard the signs of a tell tale groaning of metal, and he could assume the whole airship would collapse when the metal beams keeping the whole place semi-stable would lose grip of their places. With great haste, and sadness when he thought he could look around for more survivors, Zangan quickly made for escape out of the burning ship.

His heart nearly skipped a beat when he heard a great crash behind him, and so with a mighty leap, he bursted out the fiery entrance and escaped just in time for the airship to crumble behind him.

Zangan rolled to the ground, using his body as a shield when he felt a great heat explode from behind him and winced when his nervs sang of pain from the exposure. They were quickly calmed when he felt water thrown over him a couple of times. With that, Zangan slowly sat up with the tiny girl still pressed against his chest.

"Someone take the girl to a doctor." the older man coughed as watched someone, a woman, pluck the girl out of his arms. "Everyone, back to the fire!"

As the townspeople worked hard to take out the burning airship that slowly died down when the rain began to come down a little harder, Zangan watched the sole survivor as she stared at the airship in silent shock while clutching onto the woman carrying her away to safety.

_'Poor thing,'_ Zangan thought as he turned away. _'But at least one life was spared.'_

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><p>I hated planes.<p>

I sat on the seat _away_ from the window, and stared straight the black screen in front of me. I had always been afraid of planes ever since my stupid uncle would have me watch those actions movies (that were awesome) which always involved some bad guy hijacking a plane, or someone who didn't know how a fly drive the damn thing, and even worse, a malfunction that could go wrong and send us all to oblivion.

God, I hated planes.

"You okay there?"

I reluctantly pulled my eyes away from the screen and turned to the man standing on my aisle as he was putting away his luggage. He offered a smile when he finished and I tucked my legs in when he scooted in and took a seat next to the window.

"Fine." I muttered quietly as I stared back to the black screen.

"You don't like planes much, do you?" I could hear the smile in his voice and felt myself flush in embarrassment. "You're just like my oldest son, in fact, you look to be around his age. He just started his first semester in college, you know."

I turned to the older man he pulled out a round, tin, and thin can out of the pocket of his black trench coat and pulled out what looked to be a honey-colored block for him to pop in his mouth. Vaguely, I wondered if it was medicine or candy, could me the former considering the guy looked pretty old with his near white hair and winkled and pale face.

"He would always plead to go by car, and even though everyone told him that he was likely to be killed by a car and less so by a plane, he was persistent." he laughed as he put away his thin can.

I couldn't help but smile because that was exactly what I had always done when I begged for my parents that we should travel by car and not on those flying death traps. They literally had tried to drag me on a plane while I kicked and screamed when I was just a child, and we ended up getting kicked off the plane because I was such an unruly child. Years went by and I matured, but I still kicked up a bit of a fuss when it came to air travel.

"I watched a lot of movies involving plane crashes, explosions, and hijacking." I told the old man.

The man laughed and waved a single digit finger at me. "See! That's what happens when you watch those movies! I told my son, Craig, he shouldn't watch those or else it'll haunt him for the rest of his life, and I always make sure to remind him. Heck, even after I die, I'm going to leave behind a recorder that says _'I told you so~' _in my Will for him."

I couldn't stop myself from bursting out into giggling laughter. The gentleman raised his hand for me to shake with.

"Allen Lezler." he introduced himself.

"Luka Mercer." I replied.

"Now, Luka, let me tell ya how many times my son got us kicked out of a plane..."

The unease I felt earlier when I stepped inside the plan began to subside and turn into good mirth the more stories I heard about Craig, Allen's son. I laughed at the idea Allen proposed when I should meet up with his son for some drinks so we could talk about phobia against planes.

It wasn't long when the captain announced that our plane would be taking off soon. A couple attendants would brightly smile down at people and ask them to put away their electronic devices until after take-off. I leaned back in my chair and stared at the black screen. After some few minutes, there was another announcement and the plane came to life.

I wanted to sink into my chair and disappear. The plane hadn't taken off and already I was starting to shake with the trembling climbing up my arm, to my shoulders, and down to my quaking knees. I suddenly felt something cool cover over my hand, and I opened my eyes (never realizing they were closed), and looked over to see the older gentleman resting a hand over my own as he gazed out the window.

With a small hint of embarrassment, I held onto his hand and closed my eyes tightly when the plane began to move in faster pace while my ears started to ring.

**…**

I slightly started awake, my eyes blinking to awareness. I looked around and felt dread once more when I realized I was still on the plane.

_'I can't believe I fell asleep.'_ I thought as I sunk back to my seat and noticed the screen in front of me was playing movies. I looked beside me to Allen and noted he was fast asleep with his pillow wrapped securely around his neck to prevent aching joints. Lucky. I looked down to our joined hands.

Deciding that I would entertain myself rather than think about being a few miles up in the air, I pulled out my headphones and connected to the television and traveled the internet to watch some interesting videos or movies.

My fingers paused when I caught sight of something familiar.

_'Is that...?' _a smile drew upon my lips as I stared at the picture on the screen.

Final Fantasy VII, a series that one of my two cousins obsessed about. Looking at the title screen made me think about all the times I had spent with them as they played on their game console with the original PSX game, watched the movie, played a terrible sequel, and cried over the prequel. The story was pretty interesting, along with the characters and their development that I kind of liked it. Still, I didn't let the whole thing control my life since I had better things to do than admire non-existent characters.

Finding something else related to the Final Fantasy series, I clicked on the video, slunk back in my chair, and relaxed as the music played.

Too busy watching the interesting video, I didn't notice an attendant nervously walking up to another who had been in the middle of serving drinks. There was hush whispers of concern that the serving attendant apologized to the person before leaving with the first attendant. Not long after they disappeared, another flight attendant was making through the open aisles with haste, apologizing to some when they called for his attention while he continued to hurry past to the back section.

It was then that something felt wrong to the people. Some of them having observed, noticed the nervousness in the staff's behavior as they went off.

And things were off indeed.

The covers for the section where the attendants had held for the passengers was violently pushed aside, most of the people looking back to see a panicked attendant making a run for the front—

A force greater than flight turbulence shook the whole plane, causing everyone to shout in surprise, half of which that fell out of their seats and very few having jumped so high they crashed their heads into the ceiling.

Back to one seat in particular, my headphones had flown right off from the violent tremor, and I looked around in surprise to see many people looking just as shocked.

"What's happening?!" I heard Allen beside me demand, having been startled awake from the noise and sudden movement.

"I, I dunno!" I said.

"Hey!" someone shouted to one of the fallen attendants. "Hey, what's going on?!"

"Everyone, please, you have to remained seated and secure yourselves!" one of the attendants shouted as they knelt by an unconscious attendant.

"What was that?"

"What just happened back there?!"

And there was another tremor, but much more forceful than the last. This time, people screamed while few bodies hit the roof of the plane. I gaped in horror when one man's head suddenly twisted in odd angle when he harshly slammed against the roof before falling back on the chairs, his body sprawled over the people seated.

Oh, God, it was happening, I thought with horror. Just as that thought came across, the plane started to turn to an unnatural angle. My body was pressing against the buckle of my seat, and I was trying to sink back to my chair but gravity was not being a friend to us all at that moment.

And then I heard it.

The sound of an airplane falling out of the sky and nose-diving towards the earth.

Allen was holding man hand, our fingers laced together as we prepared to die. My heart was racing, my hair was flying all around me, and the noise filling my eardrums couldn't listen to my screams.

And I closed my eyes just as I heard an explosion and felt fire all around me.

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><p>It was very early in the morning when the fire finally died away into nothing but black smoke, the people were exhausted but relieved that the fire didn't spread to their homes. It would take a few weeks for Shinra to send people to check which airship missing, the identity and number of the people of board, and...<p>

Zangan entered the clinic that was overflowing with patients. People injured from burns, others volunteering to help others with food and blankets, and few offering comfort to the catatonic ones. Gazing over them, his eyes locked on one certain child. Maneuvering around them, he made way to the little girl that he had saved hours earlier from the airship collapsing on her. Finally reaching the little quiet one, he took a seat next to the girl.

The martial artist wasn't great with kids. He knew they were still growing up, still learning something new as time went on, and they simply didn't understand much, but he still found himself a little irritated when surrounded by noisy and destructive children.

This girl was quiet, much too quiet for him to feel a new sense of wariness.

"You're a very lucky one, you know." Zangan told her as he gazed around once again. "I didn't think there was any survivors, but at least you came out okay."

She didn't say anything, her bandaged head bowed as she looked at her one hands.

"What's wrong?" Zangan asked her, but he had a feeling what her answer was.

"... I was holding his hand..." she whispered as she stared at her dirty and empty hand. "His hand was right there... and now it's gone."

Bowing his head, Zangan slowly rested his large and calloused hand over her small cranium, mindful of her injuried that she could have sustained from the crash.

"I'm very sorry, little one. I regret that I couldn't save more that could have been trapped inside the airship with you."

Slowly, she raised her eyes to him and they looked almost blank. The pitiful state of her clothes that was covered in soot, dirt, and blood littering all over her just made Zangan feel more guilty.

To add more salt on the open wound, she had lost whomever she had been with at in the airship. She was probably on board because she must have been the daughter of some soldier, a high-ranking officer, or some engineer that worked maintenance on the ship.

Lives lost in a senseless war.

"What's your name, little one?" he asked, trying to change the subject rather than focus on the horror of what had happened tonight. "My name is Zangan. I travel all over the world and teach people to fight with honor and discipline."

From the mention of his name, her eyes widened a little, which piqued his curiosity. Had his name really gotten around that it became well known so even a child could recognize it?

While it gave him a small hint of pride at the thought, the logical part of his mind told him it would bode well if some awful sorts of characters caught wind of it. Thinking to ask her later, he encouraged her to introduce herself; besides, he didn't want to leave her alone in the case that she too might fall in a state of shock like some of the people.

She looked at him with careful consideration for a long moment, her blue eyes taking in everything from his facial features to the traveling attire he wore. The little one, so tiny that she shouldn't be away from home and certainly not coming out of a horrific crash that meant to take away her life just to send threats to a company, swallowed her dry mouth. She looked down at her dirty open hands and murmured her name quietly that Zangan almost missed it.

"Luka."


	2. One-Hundred-And-Twenty-Seventh

**A/N: **Second chapter is up! Another short one because I'm being lazy and it's not that exciting but very necessary when it comes to story plots and their developments. Honestly, I wasn't really thinking much when I made this story but I wanted to because, I mean c'mon, you gotta love Final Fantasy VII.

Besides that, there's an inspiration for this story by another Final Fantasy VII fanfic that was here a very _long _time ago. I can't remember the name, just that a girl had appeared Final Fantasy VII world, but not the sort of story you think it is. If any of you know which one I'm talking about but still need details, her name is Linnie (Lenny? Lennie?), she's pregnant, trapped in Shinra with Nanaki, and Jenova is her mother that she had left behind _thousands thousands thousands _of years ago! It was such a great story, too!

Anyway, please read and leave behind a review!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square Enix, my original character belongs to me!

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**The Ozymandias Complex**

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><p>"How is she?"<p>

Mertyl, a local of the small town who came to the clinic every day to see if she could help the doctor and nurses with anything, looked up from where she sat while sewing a shirt together for some poor fellow. While she had a lot to do to help make the town right again after the airship incident, she had another task.

"Still quiet," Mertyl said as her green-gray orbs landed on a lonesome figure that simply sat on an old tree stump while watching the white sheets on the clothesline billow in the wind. "Hadn't spoken a word."

Zangan thanked the woman before slowly making way towards the youngster. A couple days after the airship crash, he learned that the sole survivor would get up every morning, head outside (with Mertyl tagging along) and just quietly explore the town like she was in a whole new world. It probably was a whole new world for her when she probably never traveled outside of whatever hometown she came from.

What a sad way to start her first exploration outside of home.

Every time he took his attention away from helping the town fix itself back, he would visit the little girl and ask Mertyl if anything had changed. The little one hadn't started balling her eyes out like most children would, she hadn't even started asking where her parents were (from both the crash and from where she hailed), and she hadn't spoken to anyone.

Zangan honestly didn't know what to think anymore.

Deciding to save that talk for much later when the girl was ready, Zangan quietly greeted the girl so not to spook her suddenly. Her scooting over to make some room was counted as a small win for him when she displayed a small hint of trust in the older man, something which he was glad for. It made it easier to interact with her without the little one immediately being frightened of all the strangers around her. Not that she ever was, afraid of strangers.

She was likely to have met strangers on a daily basis. The parent, father or mother, or both, must have had a place in the airship that dealt with meeting new people on a daily basis.

Looking for a way to break the ice between himself and the girl, Zangan spotted the girl's borrowed attire.

"You look very nice today, Luka."

She glanced down at the white sundress that reached to her knees, little light blue sandals tucked around her feet. No would think that just a couple of days ago that this little girl was dirty with ash, dried mud, and splatters of blood when all they saw was a cute little girl in her Sunday dress. Luka simply shrugged her bony little shoulders and went back to staring at the open fields that went on beyond the small town.

Zangan eyed her carefully again.

Had this been another simple time for him when it came to traveling and meeting people, he would have thought her a very good candidate to becoming another one of his many students. She was quiet, understanding, and somewhat cool-headed... then again this could all be something else entirely considering she had just came out of a airship crash alive and barely unscathed.

Well, it didn't matter, he thought to himself as he sat up straight and let his eyes wander to the fields. Shinra would arrive in a few short days and take care of this matter themselves. The girl was most likely going to be whisked away into a foster care system and she would probably be forgotten in the back of the older man's head in a few short years.

"What's going to happen to me?" the voice nearly made Zangan flinch from surprise, but over the years he mastered his reflexes. He looked down to find the little girl looking up at him.

Seeing that there was no reason to beat around the bush, he told her of the Shinra department that was going to arrive and take care of the incident, as well as taking care of her case.

"Shinra is bad." she whispered suddenly.

The girl looked only to be around six years old and she already was proving to be much clever than the average youngster he would come across. Luka bowed her head down and slowly pulled her legs to her chest, arms wrapped around to make herself smaller...

"Why do you say that?" Zangan asked. The more he talked and watched her, the more he began to piece together of what sort of person Luka was. She was probably a person that had witnessed first-hand just how ruthless Shinra could be with their near-brutal military, agents, and politicians.

"Because they hurt the Planet."

That was not the answer he was expecting to come out of the mouth of a little child. Only a handful of people were privy to the knowledge that the Planet was, in essence, alive. It was alive and it was dying, you can thank the Shinra Electric Power Company for their _Eco-friendly_ mako reactors. Some time long ago, Midgar was once a lush green land, but when Shinra created a city with colossal reactors encircling the city, the land became nothing but a wasteland. There had been a few activists that had tried to explain to the company of what sort of damage they were doing to the Planet and pleaded them to stop, but being the usual money-making tycoon they were, Shinra disregarded everything they deemed _superstitious_ and continued with their work.

"Where did you hear that from?" Zangan asked her.

Luka stared at the top of her knobby knees before giving a half-hearted shrug. "Someone said so."

"Someone?"

"I dunno. He just told me when I asked what Shinra was."

The older man could only guess that she either heard from some random passerby having very strong opinions against Shinra, or maybe, he thought, just maybe she heard it from some AVALANCHE member that she had might have come across.

Zangan's thoughts interrupted when he noticed a shift of movement from his peripheral vision. Luka had stood up and dusted the small dirt and little splinters off her dress before straightening up.

"What's next then?" the martial artist asked the girl.

She kept her gaze to the field but acknowledged his words with another shrug. "I dunno. Maybe go travel around the world. See stuff."

He raised his thick brows at this.

"You? Travel? _Alone_?"

"I'm alone now." she said. "What's the difference if I go off by myself?"

The noise of his teeth clacking closed filled the air after that rhetorical question. If there truly was no one left for her, then she really was on her own. She would just be dumped into a not-so-trustworthy system that would leave her more miserable than she already was and just forget about her. If she was lucky, someone in this town would step up in the offer to adopt her, but none had expressed any desire to do so.

However, a little voice in the back of his reminded him, there was always _that_ option.

Hearing him sigh loudly, Luka looked back to him. Zangan stood up from his place on the tree stump and allowed himself to stretch and let the joints fix themselves back into place. Rotating his noggin, Zangan met the girl's eyes dead on.

Unlike the first time they had met, she didn't have that blank stare in her eyes. Now, they were alive, anxious, indecisive, but ultimately determined. She was afraid of what was ahead of her, Zangan would have called that stupidity if no one was the least bit afraid of the uncertainty of the future, but she was going to see through to the end.

"Alright then," Zangan said as he stared down at the tiny child with a glint in his wizened eyes, his red cloak carried by the wind. "Starting today, you will be my 127th student!"

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><p>Lying was wrong.<p>

Lies would always start out small and innocent, nothing too harmful. Eventually, as time would go by, the little white lie would grow dark and expand into splatters of deceit. It would grow until it got out of the control and become nothing but hurt and doubt.

It was even possible to lie so much that the liar began to believe and think it truth. But lies were a necessary evil. When it came to protecting people from knowing something much dangerous, it was better to deceive than bring harmful truths.

I hated lying...

But it was right.


	3. Planted Seed

**A/N: **Another short chapter, but if you want to make a good story you got to do some important fillers that expand a little of what's going on. I promise by the fourth chapter that things are going to pick up nicely, though I can't promise to update as much because of work. I hope you all will be nice and leave reviews after reading. Thank you!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square Enix, my original character belongs to me!

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**The Ozymandias Complex**

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><p>Final Fantasy VII, out of all of the Final Fantasy games, was the one that stood out to me the most. The game was so critically acclaimed that Square Enix ended up making a movie sequel, a (sucky) sequel game, a prequel game, and few other projects that became known as the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Even after seventeen years the seventh installment continued to be hailed as a fan-favorite amongst multiple gamers.<p>

The interest I had in the single title, from the story, the characters, and the world, suddenly died the second I realized where I was.

At first, I didn't realize what just happened. Too busy screaming as I felt my stomach climbing its way up my throat to escape through my mouth. Nobody informed me that I was no longer in Kansas.

Unlike Dorothy, I couldn't compute with the situation as fast as she could. The panic and fear I felt when the plane fell from the sky, my bones feeling like they would grind from how hard Allen held my hand, and fire.

Fire everywhere.

I didn't even remember crashing. I just woke up with my head throbbing in pain, and my eyes watering from the smoke and heat surrounding me. I was scared and bewildered that I was even alive. From what I had felt, the plane was taking a nose-dive down to the earth. I broke out of my stupor when a man dressed in strange clothes called out to me.

When he pulled me to him, I was surprised of how huge the man was. He was like an over-sized bear when he easily folded me into his buff arms. It was in that moment I realized something: he was too huge. Unnaturally big.

Or maybe, I was just small. Unnaturally.

He rescued me from dying inside a burning plane... which turned out not to be a plane at all.

The sense of my mind began to grow more and more befuddled at these odd facts, and it all shattered to tiny bits when I was passed off to another person from the big man's arms. For a moment, I a child's feet hanging limp in the air beneath me, and it was attached to legs, which were attached to a torso, which was attached to my skull.

_'How?'_ came my first thought.

I was a little girl.

A young girl that no longer looked like a college student.

My body froze and my mind was scatterbrained. My eyes glazed as they stared at the great inferno that slowly died down from the rain which fell.

I didn't notice when I had been set down, checked up by a doctor and occasionally a nurse, and I didn't say a peep the rest of the night as more and more people gathered inside the clinic. I was still trying to understand as I stared down at the tiny baby-fat fingers that were somehow mine. They shouldn't have been mine, but they were attached to me so they were.

And in that strange little hand, I saw a bruise beginning to form. A bruise at the same of a large hand. I could still feel the small hints of pain on my hand when we both waited for the inevitable crash that the doomed plane was heading straight for. If I ignored the murmur of noise around me, I could still hear the sound of falling from the sky.

But how? One minute I was there, and the next I was here?

_'What just happened?'_ I vaguely remembered thinking. _'Where is everyone? Allen?'_

It took awhile for me to realize that there was someone sitting next to me, talking to me. It was the big man with the strange clothes (in fact, everyone seemed to wear clothes that looked a little outdated) and red cloak hanging off his broad shoulders. When I regained a bit of focus from the shocking confusion that surrounded me, I heard him ask what was wrong.

My hand was empty. It hurt, but they were empty because I woke alone in a fire without a clue and no familiar face to tell me if this was a dream or reality.

"... I was holding his hand..." I found myself saying slowly in a near breathless whisper. "His hand was right there... and now it's gone."

I wanted to cry, shout, panic, just do something to clear away the fog of confusion that kept sweeping over my vision. But I couldn't. I didn't know because I still couldn't understand what had happened to me.

I raised my eyes to face the huge man, as if I would find answered to my questions. He was looking at me with sadness and regret.

"What's your name, little one?" he instead began as he began introductions. "My name is Zangan."

Zangan. Zangan Zangan _Zangan_—

A picture came. A single 3D model of a gray-haired man in red cape proudly introduced himself before taking a great leap over another 3D model character, the main protagonist, then back.

Looking over the man carefully, my eyes did not miss the slowly graying hair on the man's head, the strange clothes he wore... and the red cloak hanging limp off his frame.

Zangan: a character from a game.

I blinked when I realized I was being stared at expectantly. It took me seconds to remember he had asked for my name. I gave him another look over, willing my mind that this was all a very sad illusion, but the image was still there and beginning to embed itself into my mind.

Zangan, Tifa Lockhart's teacher, was sitting right next to me.

Swallowing my suddenly dry throat, I looked back down at my hands and quietly informed the man my name before my mind ended up frizzling in another round of numbing shock from what revelation I just learned tonight in a span of a few short hours.

"Luka."

I was in Gaea: a fantasy game turned to a new reality.

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><p>Days of silent confusion and denial followed after me in my long period of silence. I was too shocked to say anything to anyone for quite a while.<p>

What should have been impossible became possibly real. This wasn't a dream and this certainly wasn't a trick pulled over me (because how?). I remembered being inside a falling aircraft while clutching to another passenger's hand with a death grip before blacking out. I could be dead for all I knew... but how did this all come to play? This couldn't possibly my final destination.

Slowly, the days came and went with each sunrise to sundown, and with my mind juggling back and forth with reluctant it slowly came to grudging acceptance.

Whatever happened, happened. Now, I had to deal with the situation I ended up with, whether I liked it or not.

After figuring out where I was and coming to terms with it, I had now to question just when in Gaea I was. My answers came to me when my caretaker, Mertyl, had to make a quick stop to the postal office and ordered me to wait for her in the main waiting room while she collected the receiving mail (she had a daughter living with her husband in Junon was due to a visit with a new baby).

While patiently waiting, my eyes wandered and landed on a newspaper clipping hung up on the wall.

**WAR WITH WUTAI!**

**SOLDIER heads for the Front Lines!**

Carefully reading the rest of the paper, I felt my stomach drop low and become ill. My heart increased rapidly and I felt myself beginning to tremble. I had the answers of the when part, and I wished I hadn't went seeking it out so quickly after barely putting together my fragile state of mind.

Shinra was just in the beginnings of its long campaign against their opposing adversary, Wutai. While I was all in for the _Free People of Gaea_, I knew of it's inevitable outcome (no matter how much I wished they had won).

Wutai becoming a tourist attraction.

The country stripped of their honor, rights, and their highly-valued materia.

Yuffie and Godo's strained relationship.

It would be a long time before every man and woman of Wutai would regain their honor, glory, and freedom back from the clutches of Shinra; of course, it had to take an insane man, a half-crazy mercenary and his small gang of misfits, and almost the end of the world for for everyone in the world to get back what Shinra took from them.

And speaking of said insane man...

_'He's alive,'_ I thought with growing horror.

Sephiroth was alive... and young, and I was looking at him in the black and white picture of the newspaper clipping.

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**xOx**

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><p>I made an ultimatum the moment Zangan sat next to next to me.<p>

Days after the airship fire, after my arrival, and after reading the newspaper, an idea unwillingly planted itself into the deepest parts of my mind. Like a seed, it was planted and left there until it grew with vines that stretched further. The vines twisted and curled itself like snakes that refused to let go as they devoured until all I could think of was the idea.

Before Final Fantasy VII, there was a story of how it all began: Crisis Core. It was a story where we saw characters in a different light, such as Sephiroth.

It turned out the silver-haired First SOLDIER wasn't some maniac with a God complex, he was actually a good guy that had a lot of pressure and bad history piled up on him. And he didn't just _suddenly_ go crazy like we all thought he did, he had been constantly pushed towards the edge because of the people whom he thought were his friends, the company that fed him lies all his life, and the silence that echoed when he wondered about the unknown parts of his life.

It wasn't weapons that brought Sephiroth down, but the words of a friend that tipped over the edge of a cliff and watch on as he descended in the abyss to never return.

I felt sorry for him.

Now, I was afraid. I was afraid because he was very real, and he still had that long Masamune weapon tucked closely to his hip. I was afraid of Sephiroth, but I was afraid for him, too. And Zack, Cloud, Angeal, Genesis—

And Aerith...

So many people that had one tragedy after another when it came to that one company that spread its influence far and wide. It was like a poison that slowly consumed the body, which was probably the sort of situation the Planet was dealing with considering the damn company was sucking its _blood _dry.

So it was then I decided upon something very important: I wasn't going to lie down, watch, and let it all happen.

I was going to do something.

But first things first, I had to learn how to do something. Looking at Zangan, I felt terrible about what I was about to do to the unsuspecting man.

I never liked lying, never mind that my cousins tell me that I practically fooled everyone without even so much as trying.

But I was going to try and do something.


	4. Angzan

**A/N: **Another chapter updated! This one is a bit longer than the last ones, but because I wanted to get into some stuff started with the interesting bits. While a subject discussed in this chapter may not mean much to your readers (SPOILDER ALERT!), it will serve a purpose in the upcoming chapters of this story (END SPOILDER ALERT!). I hope you all leave a review after you finish reading. Thanks again!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square Enix, my original character(s) belongs to me!

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**The Ozymandias Complex**

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><p>It took three weeks to realize the folly of my quest to save the Planet.<p>

It was a huge responsibility, I had realized as I pondered about it. It was so huge that it had very nearly crippled the people who went on to save it from its destruction. When I recalled back to the film, I had seen Cloud moving like he had to force himself to. At first, I thought it was because of his guilt over the death of the people he failed, namely Aerith and Zack... but that wasn't it.

The responsibility; the path he chose to walk no matter how badly he wanted to let his sword drop and rest, he continued onwards down the endless road that had no end.

How in the world did he do it? How could he shoulder so much guilt while he carried the people's hopes as they relied on him?

I couldn't stop myself from admiring that about him. It took a lot of strength, physical and mental, to take that all on and keep going at it even if it would sometimes bring him to his knees. It's almost hard to believe such a little guy could make a huge difference, like he was the last card hidden beneath the world's sleeve when up against Jenova.

The plan was also folly being Zangan was merciless when it came to his rigorous training.

The village we had stayed in was long behind us when he left before Shinra's arrival. They most likely wouldn't give a rat's ass if some kid survived or not because at least there was one less mouth to feed in the system. Packed with clothes given by the sympathetic locals, me and Zangan said our thanks and farewells before heading off into the wide world.

Only an hour out of traveling were we attacked by a bunch of giant Epiolnis birds. Zangan took care of it while all I did was run around to avoid being stomped or pecked to death. After two of them fell dead from the powerful kicks and punches Zangan delivered, the rest decided that Zangan was too much and wisely fled whilst they could.

Zangan then turned to me with a pointed look with his fists on his hips.

"And you wanted to go out alone." he snorted down at me while I ducked my head.

It was pretty pathetic.

This wasn't a game anymore, I told myself, this was a new reality for me to live in. It had new (familiar) people, new laws, new physical capacities the human being were able to reach further than the limitations of my own world. There was actual dragons, gargoyles, and giant monsters that lived and breathed on this planet, so there was no more pushing my luck out here.

It was good thing I had Zangan with me, or I wouldn't have lasted a minute out here.

The uselessness I demonstrated again and again during every (terrifying) fight with the occasional monster we crossed paths with had Zangan getting me started with my training to becoming a self-reliant and capable young woman. The images of myself leaping over gaps of bridges, punching holes through concrete with bare fists, and tossing heavy-weight objects without much effort was a little hard to take in but sounded impressive.

It was barely the afternoon when I collapsed, exhausted with my muscles burning from overexerting myself. Zangan said I was too young and I was still growing out my baby fat, the reasons why I was so out of shape. I didn't exercise much in my old world, sure I would go with friends to the gym just to hang out while we ran treadmills and lifted a couple weights, but nothing constant that it became routine. It was more a once in a blue moon visit to the gym to work out.

So, every day during our travels, the martial artist trained me. He had me jog, extending my periods of light running much longer than the last day. He would also purposely find rocky terrain for me to get through so that I had to climb, jump, go around and repeat the process. And every time we made a pit stop, he had me do the more familiar work-outs: jumping jacks, sit-ups, and grueling push-ups ("No, you silly girl, keep your belly from touching the ground." Zangan had chided me).

I unfortunately discovered multiple forms of push-ups, and he instructed that I perform a different one for each stop we made.

The only respite I had was when I dropped flat-face to my sleeping bag and was immediately dead to the world.

My plan was truly folly if I couldn't hack the training. I was tempted to call it quits, but every time the words came to my tongue, they never reached past my clenched jaws.

I looked at Zangan.

The old man would one day come across a small mountain village where he would meet a young girl named Tifa. Tifa would train while waiting for Cloud to come back as a strapping First SOLDIER; Cloud would fail and return disguised, ashamed of not achieving what he proclaimed to his mother and childhood acquaintance; the blond would hear fantastic stories that would later become part of his false identity by a dear friend named Zack; Zack, the First SOLDIER, would watch everything fall apart as his mentor would disappear and then die by the company he though he believed in; Angeal would follow after his friend Genesis, even leaving behind his honor the moment he spread a singular white wing; Genesis would put a play for the world before the curtain closed on him, and he wanted to leave one thing behind to a great hero; Sephiroth, who was abandoned and lied to by all that he knew, would descend into his madness and watch the world burn.

All I had to do was look at Zangan and remember why.

The plan to save the world wasn't _entirely_ folly, it was just bloody difficult to accomplish. I would rue the day when I would start forcing my body to move, when I looked like death had warmed over me, and when I feel like I want to drop everything and let everything go to hell, but I was going to do it. There was a lot of sad things that happened in this world, wouldn't it have been nice if there was a few things that didn't go wrong?

As the days rolled on by, I always looked to Zangan to remember.

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**xOx**

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><p>"Where are we going?" I asked once again.<p>

"You'll see, be patient." Zangan answered as he gently knocked the back of my head. "Ask again and you'll be working on seventy push-ups."

I stayed quiet but made a point to give him a look that I wanted answers. Zangan just looked ahead of him as he lead the way to whatever direction we went off.

Six months

Six months of training, traveling, and learning. While I wasn't insanely strong like most heroic characters I knew, I felt my body becoming lighter and reacting faster. Because of that, Zangan had me put on weights that were strapped around my shins and wrists. The first time he put some weights I moved sluggishly during my training, my body unaccustomed of the foreign weight throwing off my balance.

But the more I carried the weights, the more the light feeling eventually returned until I adapted with near perfect synchronization.

And the old man slapped on another set of much heavier weights than the last. I suddenly wondered just how many weights was that old martial artist carrying on himself. It's no wonder he was pretty buff for his old age.

After struggling to walk up a steep hill (Zangan, the bastard, purposely chose to walk up rather around it), I stopped myself from walking into the taller man. Stepping around him, I looked up to him to find him staring at something, which I followed his line of direction.

"Oh, where are we?"

It was a small settlement that was just in the beginnings of making a village. I couldn't count the heads of the people littered around the small forested area but if I had to guess, it was somewhere around less than thirty. Zangan didn't anything as he began to head down the hill while I followed after him. It took some effort not to fall over and roll down the hill like some bowling ball heading straight for a bunch of pins, that would have been awful.

Reaching the people, I was a little surprised to see them greet Zangan. I rolled my eyes at my slow thinking process, of course they knew him, Zangan's practically been all around the world traveling and meeting people. I stood a little back to watch the whole thing as men, women, and children greeted the older man with warm welcoming.

"Oh?" a nearly startled when a voice came from behind me (oh crap, Zangan always said never to leave your back vulnerable for a surprise). "Are you Zangan's newest student. Youngest one I've seen by far!"

Standing behind me was a dark-haired woman with bright topaz orbs, much older than I but seemingly a couple years younger than Zangan. She also looked the type that wasn't easy to be pushed around by a bunch of monsters or bandits that preyed on small groups of people (it was quite humorous to see their reactions when the bandits found that Zangan wasn't just some old buzzard). Dressed in a long blue tunic that reach her thighs, a red sash around her waist, a brown skirt tucked under the tunic, and dark leather boots.

Before I could introduce myself to her, a voice interrupted.

"Hello, little sister," it took me a couple of seconds to realize that was Zangan speaking. And he was speaking to the woman standing near me.

I felt my jaw drop to the ground from shock.

_'Holy shit! Zangan has a sister?!'_

Back to the adults, the dark-haired woman playfully slaps the older man's bicep when he was close enough.

"It's been too long, brother. You travel all around and yet you barely find the time to come back and see your family? For shame, Zan, for shame..."

Not wanting to get into what appeared to be an age old argument between siblings, Zangan turned his attention to me (still gawking at the revelation of finding out he has a sister! A sister!) and wordlessly pulled me forward. I was now standing directly in front of the sibling of my trainer, looking bug-eyed and ridiculous while she looked down at me with curiosity.

"This is Luka." he said. "Say hello to my sister, Angzan."

"Ah," I quickly swallowed my dry mouth. "Hello..."

Laughing at my sudden nervousness, Angzan knelt down so that she was more at eye-level with me and offered her hand for a proper shake. I wasn't surprised that the younger sister to the great martial artist felt like she was used to crushing skulls with her bare hands rather than shaking them with little children. For some reason, she kind of scared me more than she did with her older brother...

"Come along, you all must be famished from traveling." while she said this, she was giving me a look that she just _knew_ what sort of things her brother put me through.

"Yes, please," I murmured as I followed after her with Zangan trailed a little behind because more people had come out to greet the man.

"Zangan has been well missed by everyone." Angzan explained as she led the way to her home. "You see, our father, Nangaz, came from a tribe of nomad hunters. Our father never settled in one place for too long, so he would always uproot and head out."

It explained the why on Zangan's constant want to travel.

"Ever since he met our mother, father would travel less and less. When we were old enough, Zan and I would go out and explore the world. Zan already was more like father because he yearned to go out and explore farther than anyone one of us has ever been, but I was more content being on this continent."

When her voice trailed off, I saw that she seemed to pause and stare at the distance for some unseen image. Something must have happened that made her stop going out in her travels rather than follow her brother to the unknown. Angzan blinked out of her stupor and forced a smile on her face when she saw that I was staring up at her with concern.

"Well, times had changed and I decided to stay and built a home while Zan went off into the world."

Deciding not to pry, I nodded along and followed after the taller woman into her home. As I stepped inside the small house, my senses were immediately assaulted with the scent of food being cooked into a broth. The smell made my mouth water within a few seconds but I said nothing because it would be rude to demand for food. My stomach, however, decided to be rebellious by loudly complaining that it was starving.

I ducked my head in embarrassment when Angzan looked back to me. Quickly looking for something to change the subject, my eyes locked on the closest and brightest thing in the room.

"What's that?" I asked as I focused properly to see it was a couple of flasks of all shapes and sizes. Some where just gathered in one group, others hovering over a few burners to boil, and few having been recently used by the owner of the formulas.

"Those are potions I've been tinkering around with to get some results that could have benefits in the trading business with other merchants." Angzan replied as she walked to the desk.

"So you're like a potion master?" I peeked curiously at an intriguing-looking green liquid flask that seemed to glow the closer I came to it.

"In a sense, yes. But that's not the only thing I'm working on." she said.

From this, I turned to her to find that she was pulling out a crate from beneath the desk to place on top. Removing the cloth covering the items hidden inside, I had to look away immediately when my eyes were briefly blinded by a bright light. Slowly, when the spots in my vision returned to normal, I returned my gaze and I couldn't help but gasp at what I was looking at.

Materia! A whole load of bright green, blue, yellow, pink materia that were piled up inside the crate.

"Whoa...!"

"I've been also experimenting with materia to make new sorts of magic." Angzan said as she picked up one single orb. "People long before our time have been blessed with the Planet's natural gifts, none of that manufactured nonsense those Mako Reactors produce."

I was in no way an expert when it came to materia and potions. That was the one thing that confused me (or rather that it wasn't interesting enough for me to pay attention to). All I knew was the potions, elixir, ether, and the cure, fire, blizzard, and thunder spells, but nothing beyond those. While I had watched most of the Final Fantasy VII games (Crisis Core, FFVII, Dirge of Ceberus), I never really played them. The closest I had to playing something similar was the Kingdom Hearts series.

"These materia were then combined with other materia, and even fused with some potions to create all new sorts of magic. And so, I want to try and create a never before seen magic."

"Good grief, is Ang boring you with all that new materia nonsense she's been babbling on about?"

Zangan entered the small home, almost making everything seem a tight fit because he was so huge. Beside me I heard Angzan give a huff and take a threatening step forward towards her old brother.

"This _materia nonsense_ is going to make me a fortune and have this place turn into a big town!" she snapped at the bigger man. Zangan raised his hands as a sign of peace.

"Now, now, Ang, you know I didn't mean it like that—" he said but snapped shut when the smaller woman whipped her hand so fast that he flinched when he was blinded by the materia that was shoved up to his face. "Careful! That's lethal stuff your holding!"

"Fifteen years and you still haven't grown a single brain cell in that empty noggin of yours! You'd think with all your years traveling you would have wizened up a bit, but I see you haven't changed out of the old thinking of yours."

Holy crap, this woman was burying Zangan to the ground and there was not a thing he could do about it but take what she was dishing. He even looked like he was moments away from making a small whimper. Although, to be fair, I'd probably would have long ago cried uncle if there was a materia aimed closely at my face.

I jumped when she whipped to face me. Shit, I believe I just jinxed myself!

"Young lady, I hope you will have more common sense that always depend on your muscles, unlike some that I know!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" I snapped to salute. "More brains over brawn!"

"H-hey..." I heard Zangan complain but was silenced when Angzan gave a chilly look over her shoulder towards him.

"Now, you must be hungry my dear, why don't we get you settled in so you can join me for supper?"

I stared after the suddenly calm woman I had met a few minutes earlier when I arrived to the small settlement.

"Your sister's a piece of work." I told Zangan when she disappeared inside a room.

"You have no idea..."

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**xOx**

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><p>When I wasn't outside with Zangan learning how to be flexible, I was inside with Ang ("Please call me Ang. I have no idea why father continued his ridiculous traditions of anagram names.") learning bits and pieces about materia like how to tell the different between manufactured and natural materia. She also explained just how powerful spells could grow the more someone cast them; take example the fire spell.<p>

Fire was level one, Fira level two, Firaga level three, and Firaja was the last powerful spell. The last one was all new to me because I had only known the first three, but Ang assured me that was normal because not a lot of people knew the fourth level. The implication that such a powerful fire spell existed and was rarely known told me well that it was quite formidable and I hoped to never be the receiving end of such a fearsome spell (or any other level fours out there).

Still, watching Ang and listening her talk about what a person could do with these little orbs fascinated me more than training with the old man did. Though I didn't say any of this in front of Zangan, the man was sadistic when he wanted to be.

I never thought that talks about synthesizing items with materia would be the coolest. I wondered if this was how Harry Potter felt every time he stepped inside Professor Snape's classroom. While Ang was no unflinchingly cold Severus Snape, she could make a grown man feel small (like a certain _someone_ I knew).

Today was a day off for me from my training.

Zangan had left with a small group that went off to bring back supplies that could help hasten the building of the slowly growing small town. He wouldn't be back for a day or two, but he promised that we would resume to make up for the time he had been gone.

Joy.

It had been over a week since the old man and I first arrived here, and in the past few days small groups of people joined in the little community. I never actually witnessed towns ever being built, only having seen these sort of things in documentaries, movies, or textbooks, so it was a little awesome to watch how people gathered and worked together to make something.

Ang, meanwhile, was busy with organizing and supervising. She was becoming a sort of leader to the whole community that turned to her when they needed some direction on what to do next.

That left me all by my lonesome self.

There wasn't really anything left for me to do, either. I couldn't help much with the construction of the new homes because I was too young and I'd get in the way, and I didn't want to play with the other kids around me because I refused to be treated like another kid. Scowling at the back of the adults (I was totally older than most of the teens I had come across!), I headed out for some training to elevate my boredom.

Yes, it was my day off but it was boring as hell and I needed something to keep my mind focused on rather than waste away doing absolutely nothing.

_'Now I know why Zack does his squats.'_ I snorted as I began my own squats.

While I would never become the _King of Squatters_, it was still a good work out for me to strengthen the muscles on my thighs. It proved to be more of a challenge when I wore my weights, too.

_'Hey, on second thought, maybe I will become the King of Squatters,'_ I thought with a small smile. _'Watch out people, I'm on a roll!'_

I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped me. It was cut short when the bushes in the small forested area that nearly surrounded the small growing village gave a rustling noise. Surprised, I lost focus and balance and landed on my bum with a small yelp.

"Oh," a new voice invaded the quiet air. "It's just that girl hangin' with uncle Zan and aunty Ang!"

Standing near the bushes was a group of three children, two of the boys that looked to be older (physically) than me and one girl that was younger. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it wasn't a bunch of monsters that were planning on sneaking an attack on me before standing up and dusting the dirt of my clothes.

"Whatcha~ doin'?" the little girl piped up curiously when she hopped closer to me, standing on her toes to try and reach my height but failing when she began to lose balance.

"Training." I answered shortly.

"Trainin' to do what?" she asked.

"Training to fight." I replied.

"Trainin' to fight what?" she continued.

I didn't bother answering her because I had seen these sorts of tactics used on me by my younger relatives and I always made up an excuse to go somewhere to just avoid them altogether. Let their parents deal with that sort of stuff because I sure as hell didn't have the patience of dealing with little kids that asked obnoxious question after obnoxious question.

"Ignore Mili, she's always too nosy for her own good." one of the boys said as he walked over and pulled the girl named Mili by the scruff of her collar.

"Am not, Arhon!" the little brown-haired girl pouted, stomping a single sandal feet on the ground.

The dirty blond-haired boy with slightly spiky hair ignored the little brunette in favor of turning to the last member, a taller and possibly older boy with shaggy light brown hair and deep red T-shirt.

"C'mon Trey, you can use it here! It's away from everyone and this is open space so it's the perfect spot."

The boy—Trey—nodded and reached into his black baggy shorts to pull out a—

"A materia!" my eyes widened to see a familiar bright orb in the hands of the tall boy. I glared at the three kids that stiffened when they noticed my scowl. "What are you doing with that?!"

"Uh... um..." Trey and Ahron struggled to say something, and excuse or explanation as to why they were holding what could possibly be a ticking bomb.

Mili had no trouble filling in the blanks.

"Trey and Ahron want to cast a spell but aunty Ang is the only person to hold materia! I wanna cast a spell, too, but they won't let me!" she went back to stomping on her feet. "Stingy! Aunty Ang said no to them but they went ahead and took one anyway! Why can't I cast a spell?"

"Mili!" they hissed at her, obviously betrayed that she sold them out.

I turned back to the boys. "Those are not toys to be played with! It could very well be something to explode in your face if not handled carefully and neither of us know what it could do, so stop what you're doing and take it back!"

"You're exaggerating!" Trey brushed my warnings off as he raised the materia to begin a spell casting.

"Trey," I growled lowly at him. "I'm warning you..."

"Or what?" the taller boy snapped as he straightened up to use his height as an intimidating tactic. I saw Ahron begin to do the same as he glared at me from beside his tall companion.

_'Ugh! These brats are tempting me to commit child abuse!'_ I scowled at them.

A thought came to me then. I focused back to the two little punks with a tactic that was sure to turn the tables on them... although it was kind of a low blow. Still, it beat having to deal with the dire consequences.

"Stop it, or I'll tell Ms. Ang so she could strike lightning on the both of you block-heads!" I snapped at them.

Sure enough, it worked. Trey immediately dropped the materia like it had scorched his bare hand. Everyone knew that Ang had a temper that rivaled an angry Behemoth King, so everyone did their best not to get on the woman's bad side. She was, after all, a keeper of multiple materia that could scorch, freeze, and electrocute you on the spot.

I let out a sigh of relief when the danger seemed to pass over us. I walked over the materia and carefully picked it up. Ang had these things around her house but she strictly warned me not to touch these without adult supervision. While I found the rule offensive, I had to agree that I had no idea when it came to handling these delicate things that could backfire on me.

"Please, please don't tell her!" the boys and Mili pleaded, eyes wide and faces pale.

"Only if you swear to your dying breath that you will not handle another materia until you're properly trained for it." I commanded.

"Okay! Okay! Sorry, geeze!"

"Good," I nodded. "Now lets head back to Ms. Ang's house and put this where it belongs before she notices, okay?"

"Yeah..." Ahron slowly nodded his bowed head.

"Okay, sure." Mili murmured quietly. Trey said nothing.

Before we could make for the village there was rustling in the bushes. We all paused and turned to the direction of the moving thicket. I didn't bother hiding an irritated sigh as I faced the bushes with my hands to my hips.

"Alright, come out! Don't think you can sneak around with Ms. Ang's materia! I meant what I said earlier, too!" I shouted at the forest then turned to the trio. "Call out your friends and tell them I ain't playing around. I will go in there and drag them out!"

They all stared at me with wide eyes.

"Well?!"

"But..." Mili started.

"We're alone." Ahron said.

I rolled my eyes at them.

"No, for real!" Trey insisted. "It was just us three, and we sneacked out so no one would see us with the materia..."

I stared at them and slowly realized that they were right. If someone had seen them they would have followed and showed up after they had arrived in this little open area. With a slow dread filling us up, we all simultaneously looked back to the bushes that parted ways to make way for the newcomer in the small forest.

It had no face.

The creature had no eyes, nose, or ears. The only thing there was on it's featureless surface was a wide gaping maw with rows of razor sharp teeth. Its two only limbs served with hook-like claws dug into the earth as it dragged itself around the small forest opening. And I didn't dare miss the sharp purple stinger swaying lethally like a mock version of a cat.

We all just stood there and stared at it as it crawled about on the grass, no one making any movements our sounds. I watched it carefully and noticed it wasn't truly paying much attention to us, rather it was just circling and pausing now and then before continuing its crawl. Watching closely, when the monster paused, its jaws would wide and give a sharp intake of breath.

It was tasting our scent in the air since it couldn't see us. Seeing as we didn't have much time until it would finally catch our scent and attack us, I slowly turned to the boys to tell them to quietly back away and make for the village while I made to grab Mili—

Mili, who had been stricken silent from the sight of the face creature with the horrendous jaws, finally let out a horrifying screech.

Instantly, the monster whipped towards us and leaped forward with claws outstretched and jaws ready to devour flesh.

We all let out a scream and blindly scrambled out of the way.

I tripped but clawed my way back to my feet, stumbling on the way up and looking behind to see the two-legged creature chasing after little Mili. Trey and Ahron were long gone, both boys screaming that they would alert the rest of the villagers. Mili, however, was not so lucky with that thing chasing after her.

I had to get someone! Anyone to stop this thing! I started to run towards the village to call for help, hoping aid would come in fast enough.

Mili gave a blood-curdling scream that chilled me to the bones. Against my will, I turned back and found her on the ground with the thing hovering over her. I could see the blood on her wrists from where its claws were holding onto her to keep little Mili down on the ground.

She was crying, screaming for her mommy and daddy, and she was bleeding so much from her hands that its claws probably sliced through her wrists just to keep her still enough for it to begin eating her. It was going to be too late for anyone to do something—

_'What about you, idiot?'_

It dawned to me that I was holding something very tightly to my chest. I looked down to find the glowing materia still kept in my hands.

The materia. I had a _materia_!

Quickly, with slippery hands, I raised the materia and aimed it at the monster. Not knowing what I was really doing, I squeezed the materia and thrust it forward, willing for _something_ to happen to stop the monster from killing Mili!

_'Please hit it! Please hit it! Please hit it! Please hit it! PLEASE HIT IT!'_

Something slowly came alive. I almost pulled away from the feeling but it stubbornly followed after me, and the feeling grew until all I felt was a buzzing under my skin from the hands and wrists. I had no time to question the odd feeling rising beneath, so I charged forward.

Letting out a war cry, I aimed the very bright materia in my hands towards the monster that grew lighter until—

Everything went black.


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